MR imaging and clinical characteristics of Lermoyez syndrome.

Background

Lermoyez syndrome (LS) is a rare auditory disorder, the details of LS remain unclear.

Objectives

To investigate the grades of endolymphatic hydrops (ELH) and clinical characteristics of clinically diagnosed LS.Material and methods: Nine patients with clinically diagnosed LS were included. three-dimensional-real-infra red imaging characteristics were analyzed. ELH grades and detailed clinical characteristics were evaluated.

Results

The group consisted of two women and seven men with an age at presentation of 48.4 ± 10.9 (28-61) years, an onset age of 40.9 ± 12.0 (23-58) years, and a disease duration of 7.6 ± 7.5 years. Of the nine patients, ELH was observed in 100% of the patients on the clinically affected side. In addition, 22.2% of vestibular ELH and 77.8% of cochlear ELH were classified as mild or moderate in grade.Conclusions and significance: The patients with LS had Meniere's triad, fluctuation of hearing that occurred in a reverse relationship to that of the vertiginous attack, and vestibular and cochlear ELH, which may suggest that LS is a variant of MD. However, the sex difference and milder cochlear ELH in LS compared with those in typical MD may indicate an underlying intrinsic difference in the mechanism of LS.